Friday, July 29, 2005

Busy Mommy = Bad updater

Man, we really have had a busy week (well, busy to me anyway. Errands to run, out of town guests to visit... old friends to catch up with. Busy and fun. I am just feeling super good today because I sit here, floors vacuumed, dishes done, laundry in process, bed made etc. I still need to shower, but baby is dressed, fed, napping... has had tummy time and swing time and lots of mommy cuddle time... and I am motivated enough to update even. Good day.

I am trying to figure out his sleep patterns, so I am going to keep a sleep log for Nolan for the next few days... I know his general pattern of sleep; but I want it to be a bit more detailed and also include when it seems to be restless sleep and deep sleep. Because from about 4:30 to about 8 am it's broken and extremely restless sleep. Then around 8 he fell back asleep (and I think he usually does at that time as well) and it was a deeeeeep sleep until about 10.

My little mister is a month old today... wow. Time flies.

anyhoo; someone is stirring, so I leave you with some pics...

Nolan and the cats hang out with the daddy.

Mommy and Nolan book time

first time with the kick gym

Nolan recovering after the trauma that is the bath; what you don't see is the feverish sucking of the binky. :-)

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Random Bullet Post

*I am loving the show 'Laguna Beach' right now. I absolutely loathed and despised it when it first ran on MTV and now I can't get enough of it... don't get me started on how much I hate kristin and high school girls in general. However this show has me hooked.

*I am also loving the show 'Minding the Store'. I am not typically a Pauly Shore fan, but for some reason this show has that certain something... I do wonder how much is staged and how much is real... I even got Aaron watching it and laughing. (Yeah, he is also watching Laguna Beach with me, though he refuses...REFUSES to admit that he likes it.)

*Nolan almost pooped on me today while I changed his diaper. In the poop department we are still neck and neck at 0-0. However in the pee department I think he is up 4-0 on both Aaron and I. Boys.

*It's hot as hell here right now, and I'm trying to enjoy it. Man, I haven't had a craving for a nice cool swim in so long, I *almost* would swim in the lake that we live near... except I don't swim in lakes. *sigh* but I'm almost ready to.

*triple chocolate utopia from Dairy queen is *EXACTLY* what it sounds like.

Nolan and daddy at the Bite of Seattle

This is how most of Nolan's day went

Until he decided he was hungry... he now sports a few hickeys on his arm from the sucking :-)

Monday, July 25, 2005

Muddling Through

Nolan and I and Aaron are all hanging in, and hanging out. Not too much is really going on... we had a BIIIIG weekend, am a bit tired today, though much better since I got to catch up on a little sleep this morning. Saturday we went to a parade in West Seattle... Nolan did great; got hungry in the middle of it, and Aaron had to help me situate myself with the blanket... to which Nolan responded by constantly pulling away, arching his back and being genuinely insulted that I would try and feed him under a blanket.

After that we drove up to Stanwood to visit Aaron's aunt and uncle and grandma. On the way home from there we stopped and visited his cousin and his fiance... who are also Nolan's other godparents (in addition to Lori and Matt)... it was a great day. Sunday we futzed around, and ended up going to the bite of seattle. Normally a great time, but it was INCREDIBLY crowded... and I must not be a very good Bite of seattle girl because we came home and I threw up everything I had eaten. Fun. No idea why... just felt a little sick and wham-o, up and out. Yikes.

Today was Nolan's debut at my mom's work, and then we stopped in at my friend Toni's work as well. I almost stopped by my old office, but satchel dickface's car was there and I just don't need that kind of aggravation.

I know that you are fairly new in your marriage, but have been with Aaron for some time...So how hard of an adjustment has it been adding a baby to your family? What has been the biggest adjustment, and what have you had the least problem with that you anticipated having a problem with?

Hmm... Aaron and I have been together 2.5 years so far... in December it will be 3 years. So by some standards, we didn't waste any time :-) However, I feel like we've been together forever... can't remember all those lonely years before hand, so it didn't seem like we rushed into anything. That being said, adding Nolan to the mix has been pretty easy. It was more of an adjustment I think for us to get used to me being pregnant as I had some wicked mood swings (and Aaron can correct me if I'm wrong on this), but having Nolan and getting things worked out has been as Aaron would put it "a piece of cake." ;-) This doesn't mean it isn't hard at times... Sunday morning, after 3 consecutive nights of less than 5 hours of sleep I had had it. I sat there and cried while Aaron slept next to me... truth be told I was pissed as hell that he was off snoring in slumber-land... but mainly just because there was no point in waking him up. Nolan wasn't fussing, he was just awake... I was tired... soo tired. Had slept all of 3 hours, and while the thought crossed my mind to wake Aaron up (because truthfully, had I done that, he would be a good sport about it; as he is just that nice.) but I didn't see the point. I'm the one who is nursing Nolan.. and I knew that if I let Aaron sleep; then I could get him up around 7 or 8 and have him be on baby duty while I got a few hours of sleep. It worked out perfect that way in the end... but I still sat there and cried... it's bleak in the middle of the night... during the day, no qualms at all. But when I'm exhausted and worn down, it truly feels horrid. I keep reminding myself how lucky I am because at least he wasn't fussing; just awake. That's been the only real adjustment... and as ready for it as you think you are, when you are just fucking tired, it doesn't help to remember that you knew moments like this would happen. You know?

Other than that, as far as our relationship and such... things are great. I think the biggest adjustment has been for me not working... I just feel strange being at home in the middle of the day. But I really have to say things are going well, and I feel bad and scared writing that like I'm bidding fate or the gods to come and fuck everything up... but I'm still tired!!!

Nolan decked out in his little swedish outfit

My lil swede

My little cousin Camryn, she was in the kiddie parade before the bigger parade on Saturday, and this was her float. :-)

Nolan was all ready for a day out and about!

Nolan and his grandma and grandpa at the parade on Saturday.

There I am introducing my cousins dan and cindy to Nolan

He also got his first ever bottle on Saturday, I wanted to make sure he was agreeable to the idea of drinking from it; as I have a high school reunion coming up and need to go get my hair done soon; so it'll be all Aaron for a few hours. :-)

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Full...

we just ate dinner and I think I ate too much; feel TOOOOOO full. I hate that. Anyway, while I'm thinking about it, I thought I'd address a few of the questions that were brought up in the guestbook over the past few weeks and maybe unload some of the shit that's been rolling around in my head lately.

For Misty~ I tried the towel over him in the bath trick, but he wasn't having any of it. However, he did seem to like it better when he was more immersed in the water... and the first day he seemed to like the water sprayer rinse... but the second day he most certainly DID.NOT. Heh... he was pissed.

For Khara~ I have had to breastfeed in public, though I work around it without actually breastfeeding in 'public'... we were at Costco getting his announcements printed up and he was hungry, so we went out to the car (we had an hour to kill anyway) and I unrolled my window a bit, stuck the edge of his blanket out of it, and the also stuck it into the visor and then pushed the bottom of the blanket up over the steering wheel and dashboard creating a sort of 'room'. Cranked the A/C and voila. We had our own private feeding area. The only other time I was in public was at the Jc Penney portrait studio, but she left me alone in the room; and there were no other customers, so I didn't really feel like I was in 'public'. I hope that I either get over it or never need to do it... I am just a total prude. :-)

For Jenny~ I am VERY upset that dead like me was cancelled. I absolutely LOVED Mandy Patinkin as Rube. I am looking forward to watching the 2nd season on dvd via netflix, as I am not cool enough to have showtime... I kind of wonder if the show would've done better on HBO.

Monday, July 18, 2005

*yawn*

After weeks of bitching about the weather (it's been barely 'springish' around here lately, it's over 80 degrees today and I am melting.

Not too much going on; 2nd week of staying at home is starting... still tripping me out... oddly enough; I have NO time to get online during the day. It's not even that Nolan keeps me so incredibly busy or anything... I just would rather be holding him than letting him nap all by his lonesome on the couch or in his cradle. though he does get some alone time; I just feel sort of guilty if I don't have him with me... not in a bad way, but I just feel like he *should* be in my arms, rather than in his swing.

We took him to the drive in on Friday to see war of the worlds; he slept through it all. Weird movie... ok, but the ending was a bit abrupt and left us going "uh... is that it?"

How about some pictures so I can stop this disjointed chatter?

Nolan is all ready for the drive in

He slept like this on my chest throughout most of the movie

I love being married to a gadgeteer... or whatever you want to call him... he thinks of stuff that I wouldn't have, like bringing our little portable dvd player to the drive in. We were there an hour or so early and watched an episode of dead like me to pass the time.

We took Nolan to his first carnival/street fair. Here he and daddy are at Kent Cornicopia days.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

More baby talk

I guess you are probably realizing by now that it's all baby all the time over at chez martin now. Kind of beats all cats all the time!

Today was Nolan's 2 week (and 1 day) doc appt, he gained a pound since last thursday (boy I guess he IS getting enough to eat!), and grew a whole inch since then as well. Jaundice is looking good; doc said he is not worried at all, and expects his eyes to remain yellow the longest... perhaps even a few more weeks. But his complexion is doing great.

After the appt I took Nolan to Penney's to get his first portraits done. I would link them here, but apparently they won't be available online for 10-14 business days... :boggles the mind: so... until then, imagine a cute nekkid baby wrapped in a blue ribbon and lots of poses with this outfit on:

My little sailor man. (Yes I did sing "nolan the sailor-man (tune of popeye)) to him when I was dressing him.

Incidentally, his cord stump fell off on Tuesday, so he is now getting real baths... which he just loves... see?

I've been giving him a bath at bedtime, using that bedtime bath stuff; trying to establish a routine, though it's probably more for me than for him at this point. But really; what's better than a clean fresh baby to snuggle up with at night?

He's napping right now in his cradle; I turned the radio on, (I like to keep a general hubub going so he doesn't become a light sleeper... :fingers crossed:) and I can hear the temptations playing in there right now.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

stuff

Been busy... lost 25lbs of the 60 I gained during pregnancy; giving me a total of 36 left to lose to get down to where I was on my wedding day. Technically I was 15lbs heavier on that day than I was at my all time lowest... but I'm not sweating it. One day at a time.

How about some pictures to tide you over until I have more to write...

Friday, July 08, 2005

9 days old already!

Quick update, as Nolan is napping, but I am craving some mommy and baby time, and want to go snatch him up out of his cradle and cuddle with him in front of the tube.

1st doctor's appointment was yesterday, our pedi that we chose is out of the country until the 17th; so he recommended his associate and I almost like him better... though to be fair I have only really seen our pedi in the hospital, when he was doing his rounds.

anyhoo, when we left the hospital Nolan was down to 7lbs 13.5oz, and as of 5 days later he gained 2oz (which they were pleased with, but want to see him back up near his birth weight by his next appt next thursday). And he grew a 1/2 inch. The pedi sent us over to the hospital lab to have Nolan's blood drawn, as the jaundice was worrying me, and since he hadn't seen him in the hospital and only had the results of the bilirubin test (a 10 on Saturday), he wanted to make sure it wasn't getting up near a 20. So we went, and the tech was not so good. Nolan is not a bleeder, so it's not easy anyway, but I think she didn't have a very good touch either. Seriously, we were in there for a good 20 minutes while she kept trying to get blood out of his little heel. He was so upset and I was getting upset... I finally remembered to offer him my finger and that helped sooth him a lot, but he still let out these pitiful cries and I wanted to just grab him up and leave... my poor baby.

The pedi called us yesterday afternoon, and it turns out his bilirubin level was 16, so he wanted us to go back today and get another test done. I was dreading it. While we were in the lobby I offered him a pacifier to see if that would sooth him (he was a tad restless)and he took to it much better than the avent one ... this one is a no name brand one, that was given to us at our shower; and he likes it a lot.

I asked for a hot pack for his heel and explained the difficulty the tech had yesterday, so they let him have one on there for a few more minutes, but the tech still had a hard time getting blood. She had a better touch though, and Nolan didn't get nearly as upset except when they had to prick his heel. I offered him the finger when he was getting the blood taken (as the pacifier was.not.cutting.it.) and he happily sucked away.

I am a little hesitant to let him have the paci for long periods of time, and if he's not fussing because though we are doing pretty good at nursing, I noticed this afternoon; he didn't want to open his mouth wide enough to eat; and I do not want to deal with that for every feeding; VERY painful. But I don't see a problem if we are out and about or in the car and unable to feed... He kept it in while we went to visit Aaron's work and show him off too.

The doc called a short while ago and it turns out his bilirubin level is down to 14... the pedi thinks that yesterday was a peak day, and as long as he's eating and pooping, then his little body is getting rid of it at it's own pace. Obviously if he doesn't look better by Thursday I'll mention it to the pedi again, and see about getting another blood draw. I just want him to be healthy and get rid of the yellow in his eyes.

Before I forget, a BIIIG congrats to Kay! (don't know if I should link you...since you moved from diaryland... let me know if you want to be linked!) As I said in her guestbook, may the sleepless nights and leaky boobs commence!

a few photos before I go...

Nolan's first trip to costco... slept the whole time :-)

we tried out his swing yesterday, but his little neck isn't quite strong enough to allow him to sit up straight. I have a mini neck boppy thing, but I haven't opened it yet, next time we try it I'll break it out.

Every time he stretches, he starts out with this face... I love it, it's my favorite little face that he makes while he's sleeping. I could just eat him up.

another favorite stretch face... this kid loves him some sleep and loves him some stretching.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

he has his "I'm stretching woman, why must you bother me" face on there. :-)

Also, the hospital we delivered at posted his birth picture today... check it out.

The cats are adjusting well (to answer Kay's question from the g/b.)... they pretty much ignore him, unless they happen to walk by and they'll stop and sniff at him... well, only if he's quiet and still. If he's moving at all they want NOTHING to do with him. ;-) They miss sitting on my lap; I pretty much usually have Nolan draped across me, and if I don't then I still don't let them, because I don't want them to shed all over me and to then turn around and have Nolan be covered in cat hair/dander. I'm sure I'll relax on this eventually, but for right now it ain't happening.

Not too much else to report on... all is well; I'm feeling a bit fluish tonight; achy and sore and chilled, no temp though, so I think it's just c-section aftermath. Nolan's got his first doctor appt tomorrow, am curious to see how much he's regained. (got down to 7lbs 13.5oz in the hosp.)

I'll leave you with a few gratuitous baby pics...

today he was upset at grandma and grandpa's... didn't want to be in the car seat, but Aaron was helping my mom look for something. So I plopped my finger in there and that kid sucked on it for a good 5 or 6 minutes while we waited for daddy to finish. Also; the glasses are cute, but man... a bit alienish.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Happy 4th!

Ok, so maybe it's already the 5th... it's 12:13am Independence night... so I am a little late on the well wishes. We didn't do too much today; I am really sore so we opted to stay in. My mom and dad came over with my Uncle Gary and Karen (G&K just got home from vaycay and hadn't met Nolan yet.) We had a really nice visit. Aaron cleaned the house in preperation and made me lunch... in addition to putting together the stroller... I appreciate him so much. :-)

I had a mini melt down tonight; was feeling achy (fluish) and my tummy is extra sore... not to mention the irritation from the cath... I just started to cry. Could be the hormones too! I am calling the doc in the morning w/ regard to the cath irritation... this is some b/s.

Everything else is going wonderfully... I know this is going to come across like I'm gushing, but get used to it. I just can't get over how in love I am with my little Nolan... my heart is as full as it has ever been, and seems to be getting fuller and fuller with each passing moment. I have had the warm fuzzies since last wednesday, and man... it's just awesome. I can't wait to get up with him at night... I get excited just thinking about getting him out of his cradle to change his dipe and have a snack. Hell, I don't even wake Aaron up as I had planned to, unless I need his help with something, because I usually have it all under control and enjoy being up with Nolan when it seems the whole world is asleep. Plus, I'd rather he be well rested if I need a nap and Nolan isn't asleep... though right now all he's doing is eating, sleeping, and pooping. Occasionally we get a few minutes of alert time... I love that time. he just looks around, and coos... he makes all these different funny faces... and it amuses us greatly.

Lastly, I'm swollen as a motherfucker... my feet are more swollen today than they EVER were in pregnancy... the tops of my feet were almost kind of sore at different points today. I didn't really get overheated or feel sweaty though until late this evening; all day I felt pretty cool. Oh, and I've had zero appetite today. Have drank a few glasses of cranberry juice, and some water... Aaron made me a mini totino's pizza for late lunch around 2pm, but I just have no desire to eat. Weird.

Anyhoo, the real reason I came here was to update people on the baby pool. The winner is...

Kirsten Mccullough! Even though Nolan was 8lbs 8.9oz, the closest weight of course would be 8lbs 9oz, and she guessed that correctly as well as his length. Kirsten, I can't seem to find your email address, so if you could email me and let me know what address to send the $$ via paypal to, I would be grateful!

How about a few more pics?

Nolan hopes you had a very happy 4th!

Nolan got to try out his bouncy seat today; he was hungry though and didn't care to be in it for more than a few minutes.

He also got a sponge bath today, to which he heartily protested.

He slept on my chest like this for a few hours tonight, man there is just nothing better than a sleeping baby on your chest. Heaven.